AP
Dubai, UAE
Israel said Tuesday it killed two senior Iranian security officials in overnight strikes in a major blow to the country’s leadership. Iran, which did not immediately confirm either death, fired new salvos of missiles and drones at its Gulf Arab neighbours and Israel in a war that showed no signs of abating.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gen Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, were “eliminated last night,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said. Larijani was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war.
Both men were key to Iran’s violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the theocracy’s 47-year rule. The killings would strip Iran of important leaders during a war that presents that greatest test for the Islamic Republic in recent decades.
With concerns growing about a global energy crisis, Iran launched fresh attacks against several of its Gulf Arab neighbors and oil infrastructure throughout the region. Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace, the second disruption to flights in the city in as many days. An Iranian official said Tehran had no intention of relinquishing its tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil.
The Israeli military also said it had begun a “wide-scale wave of strikes” across Iran’s capital and was stepping up strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Larijani hails from one of Iran’s best-known political families. A former parliamentary speaker and senior policy adviser, he advised the late Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration.
Larijani was sanctioned by the US Treasury in January as Tehran violently suppressed nationwide protests. It identified him as being “responsible for coordinating the response to the protests on behalf of the supreme leader of Iran.”
Soleimani also was sanctioned by the US, as well as the European Union and other nations, over his role in helping suppress dissent for years through the Basij. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killings were aimed at weakening Iran’s government. “We are undermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it. It won’t happen quickly or easily, but if we persist, they will have the chance to take their destiny into their own hands,” he said.
There have been no signs of anti-government protests since the war began, as many Iranians are sheltering from the American and Israeli strikes.
The reported killings of Larijani and Soleimani came on the eve of “Chaharshanbe Souri,” or the Festival of Fire, in Iran on Tuesday night and shortly before the Persian new year.
State media aired footage Tuesday of pro-government demonstrations, including images of some men in plainclothes branding assault rifles and shotguns on the back of motorcycles — a sign of the government wanting to prevent renewed protests against the theocracy.
